Combined flame trap and gas cleaner



R. H. FETT couBINED FLAME TRAP .um GAs CLEANER Filed June a, 1949 F/Gjf.

Oct. Z4, 1950 1/ i6 S/l Patented' Oct. 24, 1950 COMBINED FLAME TRAP AND GAS CLEANERl Richard Henry Fett, Glasgow, Scotland, assgnor to North British Locomotive Company Limited,

Glasgow,

Scotland, a corporation of ,Great Britain and Northern Ireland Application .I une 8, 1949, Serial No. 97,759

In Great Britain June 16, 1948 1 Claim.

The subject of this invention is a combined flame trap and gas cleaner especially for use with Diesel locomotives employed in the vicinity of inammable gases or chemicals, e. g., in mines and explosives factories.

Flame traps as heretofore constructed have customarily been of the blade type. This type of trap suffers from many serious drawbacks. It is heavy and awkward to handle, the blades are liable to become distorted, and' if they are not cleaned properly and regularly the gaps between the blades become choked, resulting in back pressure on the engine with consequent loss of power, and an increase in the CO content of the exhaust. y

A combined fiame trap and gas cleaner according to the invention, comprises at least one container the walls of which are provided with inlet and outlet ports and which is at least partially filled with a large number of rings each substantially of the form of a short tube with a diametral partition, such rings being customarily known as Lessing rings, the ports being so located that exhaust gases passing from the inlet to the outlet port must pass along the rings.

A combined name trap and gas cleaner may comprise two containers connected together, both containing Lessing rings, the first container through which the gases pass functioning as the gas cleaner and the other container through which the cleaned gases pass functioning as the name trap. The two containers may contain rings of diiferent sizes.

The combined flame trap and gas cleaner may be co-operative with a gas washing plant.

The Lessing rings may be of ceramic, glass, stainless steel or other refractory non-corrodible material.

A practical embodiment of the invention incorporating two containers, one functioning as a gas cleaner and the other functioning as a fiame trap, is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a combined ame trap and gas cleaner, Fig. 2 is a plan View, Fig. 3 is a section through 3-3 in Fig. 1, and Fig. 4 is a perspective view of two forms of Lessing ring.

In the drawings, I denotes a, container arranged to function as a gas cleaner. 2 denotes partitions in said container, said partitions being so located as to cause exhaust gases entering by the inlet port 3 to follow a tortuous course as indicated by the arrows 4. 5 denotes a, quantity of water through which the exhaust gases must pass. 6 denotes a iilling of Lessing rings through which the exhaust gases must pass on their way to an outlet port 1 in the container I. 8 denotes an inlet port in a second container 9 in the form of holes or perforations, said second container 9 functioning as a flame trap and being adapted to receive exhaust gases from the chamber l. I0 denotes Lessing rings in the chamber 9. Il denotes an outlet port from the chamber 9 comprised of holes or perforations. Lessing rings as illustrated in Fig. 4 each consist of a short tube l2 with a diametral partition i3.

In practice, exhaust gases entering by the inlet port 3 follow the path indicated by the arrows, on their way passing through the water 5 and the filling 6 of Lessing rings, the gases being cleaned on their passage. On leaving the container l by the outlet port 1, the gases enter the chamber 9 by the inlet port 8k and pass through the Lessing rings Il among which the gases are thoroughly broken up into multiplicity of streams and reduced in velocity, any possible iiame being muiiied and extinguished by they posited on the rings which may be cleaned by' being removed and immersed in a cleaning medium.

What is claimed is:

A combined gas cleaner and flame trap for engine exhaust gases comprising a chamber adapted to hold a quantity of water and having an inlet for gases to be cleaned, a plurality of vertical spaced bafiles in said chamber arranged to direct the incoming gases into contact with the water a plurality of times, a compartment in the upper portion of said chamber having therein a filling of Lessing rings, means for directing the gases into said compartment after passing around said baiiles, means providing an outlet from said compartment, a flame trap chamber mounted over the outlet to said compartment and including perforated gas inlet and outlet plates, said inlet plate fitting over the outlet from said compartment, and a filling of Lessing rings in said flame trap chamber.

RICHARD HENRY FETT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patentt UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,725,429 Van Schaack, Jr. s Aug. 20, 1929 2,234,736 Larsen Mar. 11, 1941 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date A249,464 Great Britain Aug. 14, 1925 

